Trump casts shadow over Standing Rock victory

The construction of a controversial oil pipeline through Native American tribal lands has been halted in the United States, casting doubt on its financial future. But with Donald Trump’s personal connections to the 1,172-mile-long Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) – and his strong ties to the oil and gas industry – the incoming US President could yet force the US$3.78 billion project through.

There was widespread jubilation when earlier this month, authorities announced that they would not grant permission for Dakota Access to drill under the Missouri River.

The pipeline, which would send roughly 470,000 barrels of crude a day from the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota to Illinois, is nearly complete – save for a small section of pipe north of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reservation.

The tribe had repeatedly expressed concern over the risk to water supplies from a leak or spill and desecration of sacred sites.

The official decision came just one day before a deadline for the removal of thousands of indigenous American and environmental activists at the Sacred Stone protest camp set up on the riverbanks in April this year.

Most recently hundreds of military veterans had arrived to support the protestors, who describe themselves “water protectors”.

More than 500 people were arrested during the months-long stand-off at Standing Rock, which became an international rallying point for indigenous and environmental rights.

Law enforcement officials were repeatedly accused of using excessive force, with unarmed protestors facing officers in riot gear with armoured vehicles, rubber bullets sound and water cannon, tear gas and “less-than-lethal” munitions.

On 4 December, the United States Army Corps of Engineers denied a permit for the construction of a key section of the DAPL, granting a crucial victory to protesters – one that both water protectors and the corporations behind the DAPL project credit to White House involvement.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II said his people and other tribes would be “forever grateful to the Obama Administration for this historic decision”.

A statement from the parent company behind the project, Energy Transfer Partners, called the decision “a purely political action”, noting:

“As stated all along, [Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco] are fully committed to ensuring that this vital project is brought to completion and fully expect to complete construction of the pipeline without any additional re-routing in and around Lake Oahe. Nothing this Administration has done today changes that in any way.”

Those at the Sacred Stone camp marked their victory over the “black snake” with fireworks and celebrations. But water protectors were under no illusions that after his inauguration on 20 January 2017, Donald Trump may start undoing much of their hard work by forcing the pipeline project to completion.

In a memo to supporters earlier this month Trump spokesperson Bryan Lanza confirmed the President-elect wanted the project finished in a decision that had “nothing to do with his personal investments and everything to do with promoting policies that benefit all Americans.”

As of May 2015, Trump’s personal investment in the project amounted to between US$500,000 and US$1 million worth of shares in Energy Transfer Partners. This then fell to less than US$50,000 by the summer of 2016. Another Trump spokesperson told the Washington Post that the president-elect has sold all of his shares in the company, although his transition team has failed to provide any proof.

The most recent disclosure also revealed at least US$100,000 shares in Phillips 66, an energy company that owns one-quarter of the pipeline.

Money flows

Money has flowed the other way too. Kelcy Warren, chief executive of Energy Transfer Partners, gave US$103,000 to elect Trump and handed over a further US$66,800 to the Republican National Committee after the reality TV host secured its presidential nomination, The Guardian reported.

Warren also reportedly contributed US$5 million to the political action committee that supported former Texan Governor and Dancing with the Stars contestant Rick Perry’s presidential campaign. Perry sits on the board of Energy Transfer Partners, owns US$100,000 worth of the company’s stock and is now Trump’s top pick for Energy Secretary.

Before the Standing Rock victory, Warren told NBC News:
"I’m 100 percent sure that the pipeline will be approved by a Trump administration. I believe we will have a government in place that believes in energy infrastructure."

The oil industry’s links to Trump’s future administration should be further concern for campaigners.

Trump’s energy policy adviser is oil billionaire Harold Hamm, CEO of the largest fracking company in the US, Continental Resources. Hamm has made billions of dollars drilling and fracking in North Dakota and it would be Continental’s oil that flows through a completed DAPL, it has been reported.

And Trump has since appointed Rex Tillerson, the former chief executive of oil giant ExxonMobil as his choice for Secretary of State.

Tillerson has only ever worked for Exxon and while he may have more than US$230 million in company shares and close ties to Vladimir Putin, he has no experience in public office.

Spill fears coming true

But the biggest concern for the Standing Rock community is the prospect of oil spills contaminating their water supply.

These fears played out recently when more than 176,000 gallons of crude oil leaked from another company’s pipeline, the Belle Fourche, into the Ash Coulee Creek – just 150 miles away from the Dakota Access protest camps.

While Dakota Access says their pipeline will be safe, as the remote workers who monitor it will able to shut down the pipeline if a leak is detected, such electronic monitoring failed to detect the Belle Fourche rupture, which was eventually spotted by a local landowner on 5 December. Clean-up efforts were also hampered by falling temperatures.

Major pipeline spills are not easy to fix. Clean-up efforts are continuing at the site of another North Dakota pipeline rupture more than three years later.

And last week it was revealed that less than a third of the 840,000 gallons that contaminated nearby wheatfields when a Tesoro Corp pipeline burst in 2013 has been recovered, or ever will be, the North Dakota Health Department said.

But for LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, founder of the Standing Rock Sioux resistance camp, the area that Dakota Access wants to drill beneath does not just provide water but a vital link to her ancestors. “We must remember we are part of a larger story," she said. "My father is buried at the top of the hill, overlooking our camp on the riverbank below. My son is buried there, too.

“Two years ago, when Dakota Access first came, I looked at the pipeline map and knew that my entire world was in danger. If we allow this pipeline, we will lose everything.

“We are the river, and the river is us. We have no choice but to stand up.”

Share this page

Your comments

I am a lifelong resident of North Dakota and delaying this pipeline will cause more risk of spillage via rail transport.The other damage is we get less Royalty and State tax Dollars because of the expense of the current inadequate infrastructure. Warren Buffet and Burlington Northern are loving this delay.

This article is being presented as a news perspective. It is written from a biased perspective. Let’s do some fact checking here:

"The construction of a controversial oil pipeline through Native American tribal lands"

This pipeline does not go through any tribal lands, any sacred sites, or any recognized native historical or cultural area. There have been multiple archeologists that have surveyed, and thoroughly, professionally examined the area in question for artifacts of any kind four years ago when the project was proposed.

"There was widespread jubilation when earlier this month, authorities announced that they would not grant permission for Dakota Access to drill under the Missouri River."

There was celebration, limited to the faction that opposes the DAPL. There was devastating economic concern from the millions and millions of tax paying individuals that depend on the oil and gas industry for their livelihood.
There are seven other places where oil and gas pipelines have been drilled and operate under the Missouri River. The fact that so many are not aware of this speaks to their safety, efficiency and lack of impact on the river or surrounding area.

"The tribe had repeatedly expressed concern over the risk to water supplies from a leak or spill and desecration of sacred sites."

Multiple officials and administrations of multiple tribes as well as every other local and regional concern was repeatedly asked for input for four years before the construction of the DAPL ever began. Tribal contribution was heavily requested and those requests were repeatedly and consistently ignored. The construction of this pipeline has been widely covered in the press since it’s inception and anyone and everyone who had a concern was welcomed to express it. For someone to say, "“Two years ago, when Dakota Access first came, I looked at the pipeline map and knew that my entire world was in danger." is either a newcomer to the scene, or hasn’t done their homework.

There are so many inaccuracies is this editorial that there is not space or time to point them all out. What isn’t in this article, or any others that have a national audience is the documentation of poached livestock and slaughtered bison, with only small hunks of meat cut out and the rest left to rot, by "protesters." The burning of equipment and especially rubber tires is illegal and has gone on for months by the "protestors," polluting the surrounding area. Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II has said publicly that the erosion and destruction the "protestors" have wrecked on the land they occupy has destroyed it for generations and will cost millions to begin repairs after the occupation ends. The limited resources of the Standing Rock Sioux has been depleted by not only providing emergency services for ill equipped "protestors" by also by the loss of tribal income from the Standing Rock Casino, the main source of income for the tribal members, due to the "protestors" blocking the only entrance. Yet none of these things appear in the national news.

As the "Leave it in the Ground" and the DAPL protestors drive their gas fueled RV’s, with their propane heaters, wearing clothing and shoes only made possible by oil and gas by products and research, eating food that is only available in the prepackaged form because of fossil fuels, where do these people think these conveniences and necessities come from?

There is passion and hatred and energy out there that has nothing to do with an oil pipeline, and that needs to be acknowledged too. Professional, paid protestors, who will make noise for any cause for a buck, movie stars that there as long as the press is there, and well intention but ill informed individuals are all part of the makeup of the mob. If someone gets blasted with water hoses, they have been asked, warned, and informed of the consequences of not complying before the hose is ever unrolled. Let’s save our sympathy for someone who didn’t choose exactly what was happening to them.

It may be too much to expect that the coverage of an event be two sided, fair and without emotion, but if we don’t at least have expectations, then we have already lost the battle.

I was up there in September and came back to spread the truth about Standing rock protest, watch my video’s on Ytube channel Pam Hemphill as I am pro pipeline, and writing a book to share the truth about economic terrorist..

Comment on this article

A priori moderation

Warning, your message will only be displayed after it has been checked and approved.